Worry about DD at uni who just called

Ditto! I really feel for you @Raisingresiliantteens, I'm glad she was out enjoying herself. I was at Bristol myself, and I remember "Faffers' Week", as it was called then, was a non-stop round of activities. If mobile phones had been available then, my own mother would have been lighting mine up at all hours! As it was, we had to make do with a communal phone on the hall of residence corridor

Yep. We've surely all had that awful moment when you can't help thinking hang on that's odd.
So sad for their dc that some would apparently just shrug their shoulders and go to sleep and think ah whatever.

No it isn't.

They provide pastoral support in the sense of placating over anxious parents because it's cheaper and gives the uni better outcomes than putting up with parents driving up or otherwise disrupting things. But universities are constantly saying how pissed off they are with helicopter parents stopping students from gaining the skills and independence that university life used to provide.

In this sense pastoral support is only what you pay for in the same way you pay for security to stop idiots from causing disruption.

I’m very happy to hear this OP. I’d have felt the same 😟

Glad your DD is okay OP.

Not sure about tracking adult children though. I’m so glad this wasn’t available a few years ago when mine were at uni, I would have worried myself silly. At some point you have to “cut the cord” and let them live their life, for better or worse. They’ll make mistakes sometimes, but all part of growing up and becoming an adult. Parenthood - still difficult at times, even when they’re adults!

Pocket dialled you.
**sorry just seen update, glad all is well!

Don't do that so soon. I twill embarrass her

Yes, do not be that person. She will be singled out as that girl whose mother rang the University

If I heard a scream then my daughter’s phone cut off I’d worry too. In fact I’d be driving down to check up on her, I wouldn’t care if this embarrassed her or not. If it’s a pocket dial it’ll teach her more care, but with modern phones it’s very hard to do!!

Do you think the university will tell their entire student body that the OP phoned them?
Thankfully the people I was at uni with were kinder than to single out a kid for something that their parent may have done.

Exactly! When I lived overseas for a year at 20, we were allowed to use the landlady's house phone once a week to call home. Any more than that and she wanted to charge us extra (no specific reason other than her greed, I imagine). We would also write letters home on that blue airmail paper, and walk to the post office to get it sent.

Now if they haven't been seen online for 5 minutes we panic! I know only too well that fear of not hearing back from them for hours, or their "last seen" was hours ago. All had perfectly valid explanations in my case, and this would never have been a thing in the 90s/early 2000s!

Exactly. Those saying ‘it was clearly a pocket dial’… how could she know that?
I may be biased because when my brother called my dad late at night and the phone disconnected immediately afterwards, it was because he’d been in a car accident. Sadly the next my dad knew was the police at the door telling him that my brother was dead.
It isn’t embarrassing or ridiculous for a parent to be worried in the situation in the OP. I’d wager than in real life, most people would be worried.

I would be worried too

My sister has 360.on her phone and once her daughter did the same and her battery died. She was happily enjoying life as had mum was having a worry feat

I don't think we ever stop worrying

She but dialed you. Chill.

Spot on

Edited as mistaken.

Uni staff arw not there to answer endless calls from parents who are trying to keep track of theor aful children

Yes parents worry biu dont put it on to others and yes ia am aware the op did not call the uni

Was your reading comprehension shit then or is your reading comprehension shit now?

I feel your pain OP. Mine started this week, and is fully embracing Freshers week. He overslept yesterday and missed an appointment, and I was 50% convinced he was dead in his bed from alcohol poisoning. Managed to resist the temptation to contact the uni, but he would have woken up to a number of missed calls. I am sure it will get easier, but it is normal to worry when they have been sent out into the world alone for the first time.

I'm glad she is okay. That kind of thing is really stressful but definitely not uncommon. I bet parents phone the university quite often in freshers week but don't do it again for something like that.😂

You'd drive from London to Bristol in the early hours after a pocket dial during Freshers week? 🤯

Yes, mine are a bit older too and they've never let me track them as they say (probably correctly) that it could make me more stressed. I know many of their friends can track them though so in an emergency I would call them.

OP I’m pleased you’ve heard from her, I know that panic and how your mind races when their phone is then off. I think some of the responses you had telling you off are bizarre given that this is a site literally called ‘mumsnet’ where parents should be able to express anxiety and get support. Of course you’ll worry, young women do get their drinks spiked and they do have to navigate a tricky world on student nights out, especially as it’s early days and you don’t know her friends and have no numbers to call yet. It gets easier when they establish a friend group, but your reaction and wish to get advice following a late night dropped call from a 18 year old was valid.

She didn’t know it was a pocket dial though, did she? She answered the phone, heard a scream, then the phone went dead and wouldn’t connect when she phoned back.

Glad all well. Op I dont switch off either my daughter is 20 until I hear her key in door